This is a priority application based upon German patent application 100 07 089.2 filed Feb. 16, 2000.
The invention relates to an apparatus for handling blanks, in particular revenue stamps for cigarette packs, namely for supplying and for feeding the same to a processing subassembly or to a cigarette pack, having an essentially upright shaft or magazine in which the blanks are stacked one above the other and on the underside of which the blanks can be removed individually by a removal element and conveyed away.
The handling of, in particular, small, thin-walled blanks, such as revenue stamps, coupons, etc. for (cigarette) packs, poses problems in packaging technology on account of the high operating speed of the packaging machines. Such blanks, in particular revenue stamps, in practice are prepared, namely cut to size and introduced into an upright, shaft-like magazine as a stack, predominantly outside the packaging machine. The blanks are removed from said magazine one after the other on the underside and fed to the packs.
The object of the invention is to increase the capacity of an apparatus for supplying and handling such blanks and also to improve the reliability during handling.
In order to achieve this object, the apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that the shaft or the magazine (for the blanks) comprises at least two sub-shafts arranged one above the other, namely a bottom (smaller) base shaft and a top supply shaft, which can be removed from the base shaft once it has been emptied and can be positioned on the base shaft (again) once it has been filled with blanks. Once the supply shaft has been emptied, there is still a sufficient stock of blanks remaining in the preferably fixed base shaft. The supply shaft that has been removed is replaced by a filled, new supply shaft, with the result that the entire contents of the magazine are available again within a short period of time.
A further special feature relates to the increase in the capacity of the blank magazine by arranging a plurality of sub-shafts, namely supply shafts, on an endless conveyor, in particular on the outer circumference of a rotatable carousel. Shafts or supply shafts filled with blanks are moved one after the other to a transfer station and into a position above a base shaft. The relevant supply shaft is connected to the base shaft. Following emptying, the carousel is rotated one step further. The supply shafts can easily be removed from the carousel and attached to the same.
The spatial positioning of the large-volume blank magazine, formed by the supply shafts, at a distance from a processing station for the blanks is also of particular importance. The blank magazine, in particular the carousel fitted with supply shafts, is accommodated at a freely accessible position of the packaging machine which is favourable for charging purposes, in particular laterally alongside the machine. The blanks are transported from this loading station via a relatively long conveying path, namely via a blank conveyor, into the processing region, in particular into the region of a drying turret for providing the blanks or revenue stamps on the packs.
Finally, a removal element, namely a pusher, by means of which the individual blanks are removed from a transfer shaft in the region of the processing station is important.